Page 61 of Psychological War

“So what’s been going on?” I asked from the driver’s seat. It felt good to be back, with Killian in the back seat, nose in his laptop, and Dimitri in the front seat with his phone out, most likely texting back and forth with Mila.

“Most of Luca’s men are dead. The only one left is his son. I have no idea why he’s after us. The only thing I could assume is the girl,” Dimitri finally answered looking up from his phone.

“Luca right now is in New York. I think he’s trying to gather more men. He lost a great amount from her. If she’s the one killing them all,” Killian commented from the back. “All the ports are back in place, nothing missing. I think it’s because she took out whoever tried to take over for Matteo.”

“Have you looked into Luca at all? Maybe he could give a tell on who Salem is.” I shrugged.

“I, eh, I have, but the only thing I found is a girl named Emily Willis, but she disappeared.”

“Who’s Emily Willis?” Dimitri asked. Looking over my shoulder, I switched lanes.

“Alright so the head of the family, Volkov, who you know never believed in arranged marriage. The cartel is not important right now, they’re trying to figure out their own shit anyway. Then Caputo,” Killian rattled off.

“Killian,” Dimitri snapped.

“I’m getting there. Luca’s dad had arranged for the Willis family’s daughter to marry Luca.” He continued tapping away at his computer. “Willis family here, umm. Alright, so Nathan and Mary had three children, Emily the oldest daughter, then Alexander, and then Katlyn. Nathan and Mary were both lawyers, and… wow, fuck they were rich. Nathan was the Caputo lawyer, and it looks like Mary was a lot of the other lower crime family lawyers. When Luca was twenty, it looks like Emily was set to marry him. She was three years older, but he needed a wife. After that there's nothing.”

“Nothing?” Dimitri questioned.

“Yeah, they were supposed to marry April eighth, and it looks like she never showed up at the altar. Like standing him up, she disappeared. There’s no sign of her anywhere else,” Killian confirmed.

I had no idea how important this was. Who cared who Emily was, or this fucking family. I just wanted to know who Salem was, and why she was so secretive. I wanted to know everything about her, but now it went beyond wanting to just know the mystery of her. I wanted to know why she chose vanilla shampoo and mint body wash. I wanted to know which horse was her favorite, and her favorite movie. All of it. She was becoming something more than an obsession. I didn’t even know what went beyond that. But whatever it was, I had that.

Even this two-hour road trip had my skin itching. It was more than wanting to be close to her; it was becoming a need. I needed to be around her, in her space.

“So, Zane… you and Salem seem to be… what’s the word—”

“We’re not talking about what’s going on between the two of us,” I growled back at Killian. I don’t know why all of a sudden Killian wanted to gossip, but I wasn’t in the mood.

“Fine, we won’t talk about the two of you. We’ll just talk about the crazy girl we’re currently staying with.”

Rolling my eyes, I continued driving not wanting to talk about Salem.

“So what is going on with you guys?” Dimitri asked, looking at me from the corner of his eye.

“Oh, fuck.” Killian laughed. Dimitri rolled his eyes.

“This is going to be a long fucking drive,” I muttered. Long drive indeed.

***

“That was a fucking pointless meeting,” Killian complained for the millionth time since we’d left it five hours ago.

“If you say that again, I swear to god I’m knocking you out right here and leaving you here,” I growled as we climbed the stairs to Salem's house. Though I agreed the meeting with Taylor had gone completely pointless.

“I just want to eat and see my damn wife,” Dimitri muttered somewhere behind us.

Opening the front door, all of us stepped inside just to stop right away. One of the things I least expected to see was three girls, dancing to loud music. I had no idea how we hadn’t even heard it from outside. But here they were. Mila held a bottle to her lips as she swung her hips to some heavy beat song. Some blonde girl was next to Mila showing her different dance moves. But she didn’t hold my focus. No, that would be Salem. My eyes swung to her, and the air left my body as I stared at her. I had never seen her so carefree before. But there she stood on the coffee table, swinging her hips like the blonde was showing Mila. But the way she was doing it was completely different. Like she knew what she was doing. Her eyes were closed as she let the music flow through her. Her hair was wild, as her hands moved through her hair like it was the last thing she was meant to do.

“I don’t think they realize we’re here,” Killian muttered.

“I think they’re drunk.” Dimitri sighed.

“Should we tell them we’ve arrived?” Killian asked.

“No,” I shot out. I don’t know why I didn’t want them to know we were here just yet, but watching Salem dance on the table, letting loose for once was doing things to me. Things I thought I wouldn’t allow to happen, but there it was. The feeling of caring for her, and it was beyond wanting her. It was becoming more.

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